The Last Dance
by tyfrancisusmc
Summary: The last hurrah.


**Championship or Bust**

**Written by Tyler Francis**

**T****he arena was very loud and energetic. The seats were all full of fans of both teams segregated into two different areas spread out along the arena. **

**My heart pounded. ****_Was I really in the game I have been dreaming of since my childhood_****, I wondered? Finally, after years of practice and hard work, I'd finally made it to the 2A Utah State Basketball Championship Game. I've been training all my life for this moment for all my life.**

**I looked at the clock to see how many more minutes until the most important game of my life began. It read ****4:19****and was counting down from there. 4 minutes until the biggest game of my basketball career. I was ending my career playing in the state championship game. My jersey was on and I had been warmed up. **

** "****It's winning time." I told my teammates and we got into our huddle to discuss our strategies for the game.**

**. . .**

**As I walked out into the small circle where they tip the game off inside the overpowering arena, I knew I could not let the pressure get to me. This would be my last game ever. I was a senior in high school and my last basketball game would be in the state championship. This was my last chance to win it all.**

**I was prepared to get the jump ball and I tried to calm myself down. But butterflies still churned in my stomach. **

**The referee looked at me, a 6'8'' center, then at my opponent. He was a few inches smaller but he was meatier than I was. I had to play big tonight. But at least I had the height advantage.**

**My plan was to hit the basketball forward to our Point Guard Drew Hill and get a fast break layup to start the game. I nodded at him so he knew that the ball was coming to him. He nodded back to me. It was game time.**

**The ref blew his whistle and threw the ball into the air. I waited for the ball to be at its peak. Then I leaped up to get the ball. I won the tip quite convincingly and got it to out point guard. **

**The second he caught the ball I started sprinting towards the basket. Most of their defenders were now focused on him so I ran up to the basket with a player pursuing me trying to stop me. Drew and I had played for a long time so we knew what to do. He threw up a lob and I jumped up to finish the alley-oop. There was nothing the defender could do now but watch as I threw down a vicious dunk. On the way back I just smiled but I knew I couldn't let my guard down. This was going to be a dogfight. **

**. . .**

**At halftime the score was 32-27 with us up by five. I had 8 points at the halftime break, a few blocks and a lot of rebounds. With my tall frame and my athletic leaping ability I was a rebounding machine.**

**The coach took us out to the locker room and told us he was happy with our performance but told us that if we are going to win this game then we have to continue to play with this intensity. He also told us that we need to continue to execute our plays with precision. The only difference between a good team and a great team is that great teams can execute their plays in clutch situations.**

**After the talk we went out and shot around. I knew this was the final game of my career and that it needed to be my best game ever. **

**After shooting around we went into the huddle and we talked about finishing the game strong. **

**As we walked back onto the court I looked at Drew Hill and Cole Stewart, the starting Guards for the team and my longtime friends. All I told them was this: "Let's finish this."**

**. . .**

**The third quarter had been a disaster. They had outscored us by seven points we were now down by two heading into the forth and it had been back and forth since then. Now it was 46-47. We were losing!**

**There was 12 seconds left on the clock and we had to have a big time shot or we were going to lose the state championship. **

** "****Come on guys. Let's finish this game." The coach said. He looked all of the seniors on the team and said, "Championship our bust."**

**The words echoed in my head as I walked out of bounds to inbound the ball. **

**_Championship or bust, I thought._**

******I inbounded the ball to Drew. "Remember, 12 seconds guys." He walked into the corner. I stayed out at the three point line. One player poked the ball away from Drew and he lost it. With 4 seconds remaining on the clock he recovered it. Thinking there was not enough time to pass he shot the contested three point jumper.**

**Once it released his hands I knew it was off. It wasn't going in. **

**No one was boxing me out and I saw my opportunity to save the game for us. No one was boxing me out so, fueled by pure adrenalin, I rushed to the basket with perfect timing. I caught the ball off of the rim and slammed it home with one second left.**

**Game over! The team came and tackled me onto the ground and started screaming my name. The crowd rushed the court and they lifted me up.**

**We had done it! We had won the state championship with a put back dunk at the final seconds of the game. What a way to end a career and a game. The final score was 48-47.**

**The whole team was proud of me and came up and congratulated me. My mom rushed the court and hugged me. She was proud of me. The rest of my family was in the stands jumping up and down. They couldn't believe what I'd just done.**

**I grabbed the shiny trophy and put it over my head. "This trophy is for all of us. We did it together. We did it as a team."**

**The whole school had seen me hit the big time shot. That was the biggest shot of my career. Finally Gunnison had won a Basketball championship for the first time in 18 years. **

**Gunnison Valley High School was the 2017 Utah 2A State Champions.**

**We had done it. It was our dream growing up as kids. Now it was reality. But, the most important thing of all was that we had done it as a team.**

**THE END**


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